- Trump urges Fetterman to switch parties and become a Republican
Source: SFGate
“President Donald Trump openly encouraged Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to switch parties and become a Republican just weeks before the midterm elections could reshape control of Congress. ‘I’d love to see him as a Republican,’ Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Saturday as he returned to Washington from a rally in Tennessee. ‘He does better as a Republican than he does as a Democrat.’ The comments were among the most direct overtures by Trump to woo Fetterman into the GOP, a matter of growing importance as the party could lose its Senate majority in next month’s elections. With his everyman appeal, Fetterman was a Democratic star when he was first elected to the Senate in 2022. But during his time in Washington, he has split with Democrats on issues ranging from immigration to Israel, leading to speculation that he might switch parties.” (10/10/26)
- Expedition hopes to find aviator Amelia Earhart’s plane on remote island
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A team of researchers are on their way to a remote island to inspect what they think could be the wreckage of famed aviator Amelia Earhart’s plane. The group, from the US-based Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) and Purdue University, are expected to arrive at Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific Ocean by Monday in the hopes of solving the mystery of her disappearance. The American pioneer vanished while attempting to circumnavigate the globe in 1937, spawning decades of speculation on her fate. The team are aiming to find what has been called the Taraia Object, first spotted sitting on the edge of a lagoon off Nikumaroro in satellite imagery in 2020. Purdue University said the object had since been confirmed to have been visible in aerial photography of the area dating back to 1938.” (10/10/26)
- Turkey: Regime fantasizes that it can keep kids off social media
Source: Politico
“The government of Turkey on Saturday formally banned access to social media platform for children under the age of 15. The law was published today following the Turkish Parliament’s adoption of the bill last April. The ban will come into force on Nov. 1. … Turkey joins a growing group of states, including Australia and Indonesia, that are introducing or exploring tougher age restrictions on social media access.” (10/10/26)
https://www.politico.eu/article/turkey-bans-social-media-for-kids-under-15
- Panama: Regime declares a state of emergency as powerful quake aftershocks rattle communities
Source: SFGate
“The government of Panama declared a state of emergency Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours. Officials did not attribute any deaths to the quakes but reported damages in all 10 of Panama’s provinces and two Indigenous territories. The 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes on Friday toppled buildings near the epicenter and prompted evacuations across the Central American country. Seismologists recorded more than 100 aftershocks, including ones measuring magnitude 5.8, 5.5 and 5.2. The earlier quake, also felt in neighboring Colombia, was centered about 10 kilometers (6 miles) southwest of the remote community of Pitaloza Arriba, in the central province of Herrera, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles). Presidential Minister Juan Carlos Orillac announced the emergency during a news conference in the capital, Panama City. He said homes, schools, healthcare facilities, roads and hotels were among the damaged facilities.” (10/10/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/unnerved-panamanians-sleep-in-streets-as-22471467.php
- Trump: “Time for Ukraine to get new president” after Zelensky condemns diesel deal
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“US President Donald Trump has said he thinks ‘it’s time for Ukraine to get a new president’ as he responded to Volodymyr Zelensky’s criticism of the US diesel deal with Russia. The Ukrainian president warned a new deal to release millions of tonnes of Russian diesel into the US would provide Moscow with money to continue its war against his nation, calling it a gift to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday that Zelensky “wants to make problems for the world” by continuing to authorise attacks on Russian refineries. Trump said his Ukrainian counterpart ought to “stop” before suggesting Ukraine should ‘get a new leader who can make a deal’. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 the country has been under martial law, meaning elections are suspended.” (10/10/26)
- Indonesia: Headmaster detained after BBC investigation into alleged sexual abuse of students
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“A former headmaster of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia has been named as a suspect in a sexual abuse investigation and detained by police, following a BBC Eye report. Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, known to students as Abah, led the Abul Barokat boarding school on the island of Lombok. Police reopened the case after the BBC World Service revealed accusations of sexual abuse against him, and documented how former students had gathered evidence in an effort to bring the allegations to the authorities. The story sparked public outrage and led to 12 more former students giving testimony to police. Central to the BBC Eye investigation were former students Ziadatur Rahmah, known as Zia, and Sukma Rohana Fajar. They launched their own investigation after Zia told a former classmate, Yusron Azzahidi, that the headteacher had sexually assaulted her when she was 17.” (10/10/26)
- TN: Pike discharged from hospital, returned to prison
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Christa Pike has been discharged from hospital and returned to a Tennessee women’s prison after surviving the US state’s attempt to [kill] her by lethal injection, her lawyers said on Saturday. The 50-year-old is back in the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she had been incarcerated for 30 years. She had been in hospital since September 30 when officials administered two doses of pentobarbital in an attempt to [kill] her. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 beating and stabbing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.” (10/10/26)
- Myanmar: Young men live in fear of being snatched off the streets and sold to army
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“You do not stay out after dark if you’re young and able-bodied in Hpa-An, the capital of Myanmar’s southern Karen state. In recent months this has become conventional wisdom. But Zaw Min has no choice. ‘I worry, but I have to go out to work,’ says the 26-year-old tuk tuk driver, who asked that his real name be omitted out of fear for his safety. ‘My family call me all the time and remind me not to drive passengers too far; to be careful who I take as a passenger… I have to be vigilant all the time. People are panicked and frightened. Some people I know have been taken.’ Locals say plain-clothed members and supporters of the Myanmar junta have been roaming the streets of Hpa-An, arbitrarily arresting people in their teens, 20s and 30s and forcing them into military service.” (10/10/26)
- CA: Thousands of SF mail-in ballots damaged by machine before being sent out
Source: SFGate
“Thousands of vote-by-mail ballots in San Francisco have arrived at residents’ doorsteps with a long slit on the outer envelope this week, leading some community members to believe that they’ve been deliberately tampered with. However, after contacting the United States Postal Service, the city’s Department of Elections was able to figure out why, and has a much more mundane explanation for the ripped envelopes. After receiving reports of the torn envelopes and contacting USPS, the department found that the machines packing the mail-in ballots caused the tears, and USPS has switched over to packing them manually, the city said in an Oct. 7 news release. If the four ballot cards and return envelope are intact, voters can still send them in for processing.” (10/10/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/torn-ballots-san-francisco-22468392.php
- CA: ICE gang member f*cks around, finds out
Source: New York Times
“An off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was shot early Friday after he was found sleeping on the lawn of a home in Fresno, Calif., the authorities said. … David Gonzalez, an ICE agent from Texas, had been sleeping on the lawn when a woman returned to her house and saw him, the police said. The woman told her father, who was inside the house. The father, 72, woke up Mr. Gonzalez, who appeared ‘intoxicated and agitated,’ the police said. Mr. Gonzalez then assaulted the 72-year-old man, causing several ‘visible injuries,’ and then assaulted his daughter when she tried to intervene, the police said. The woman’s father then pulled out a firearm and shot Mr. Gonzalez once…. Gonzalez, 32, was charged with felony assault and vandalism, the Fresno Police Department said. He was taken away from the scene in an ambulance and received treatment while an investigation was carried out, the police said.” (10/09/16)
- Seeking Big Weekend Energy
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Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Nobel Peace Prize 2026 awarded to ICC judge
Source: CBS News
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2026 was awarded Friday to Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, a South African human rights champion and judge on the International Criminal Court. The Nobel Committee said awarding the prestigious prize to someone on the ICC, which has faced huge pressure from the Trump administration, was a message to those who seek to undermine international justice. The South African-born former United Nations human rights chief, who is 85 years old, was recognized for her efforts to promote peace and international law, said Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. ‘This is definitely a message to those who are undermining the international system and institutions,’ Frydnes said.” (10/09/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nobel-peace-prize-2026-navanethem-navi-pillay-south-africa/
- Russian strikes on Ukraine’s public buses leave 30 dead as blackouts worsen in Kyiv
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“A Russian-guided bomb exploded next to public buses filled with passengers in eastern Ukraine, authorities said Thursday, killing 30 people as part of a wave of attacks that also worsened power outages in the capital. … Thursday’s attack followed a Russian missile strike a day earlier that killed 22, including five children, in the northern Ukrainian town of Pryluky. Rescuers were searching the rubble of a residential building. At least 54 people were wounded. Several survivors slept in heavily damaged apartments because they couldn’t find anywhere else to stay. … Ukraine’s energy company DTEK said national grid operator Ukrenergo had ordered emergency power outages in Kyiv. Regular, rolling outages that occur on a schedule across the country will be halted during these shutdowns.” (10/08/26)
https://www.npr.org/2026/10/08/g-s1-147106/russia-ukraine-war
- NYC: ICE thug attempts to murder motorist with five-year-old reportedly in car
Source: The Guardian
“A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) [gang member] shot and injured a man in New York City on Thursday afternoon during an [abduction] operation, federal officials said. The man was conscious and hospitalized, authorities said, and the shooting quickly sparked angry protests from local residents and elected officials in the neighborhood. Early reports indicated that [gang members] had surrounded the man and a five-year-old child in his car in a residential area before firing multiple rounds, the city’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said in a statement on Thursday evening. The child was physically unharmed, he said.” (10/08/26)
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/08/nyc-shooting-federal-agent
- US weekly initial jobless claims edge down to 197,000
Source: Investing.com
“The number of Americans filing for first-time unemployment benefits inched down last week, but remained within a recent range, suggesting ongoing resilience in the U.S. labor market despite employer caution around increasing hiring. Initial jobless claims stood at 197,000 in the week ending October 3, a decline of 2,000 from the prior week and lower than expectations of 200,000. Over a four-week average, which accounts for volatility in the weekly figure, jobless claims dipped to 198,000 from 200,500. Continuing claims, a hiring proxy that measures the amount of people receiving unemployment benefits after an initial week of aid, edged up to 1.716 million in the week ending on September 26. The previous week’s number was revised down to 1.699 million from 1.701 million.” (10/08/26)
- Hegseth vows to make first military firing squad killing since WW2 “public”
Source: CNN
“US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed in an interview this week that the [killing] of the man who killed 13 people in a mass shooting at Fort Hood in 2009 would be ‘public.’ ‘We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things,’ Hegseth told far-right podcaster Jack Posobiec in an interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Wednesday. A Pentagon official said Thursday that the [killing] ‘will be livestreamed,’ but did not offer more details. … Hasan was convicted in July 2013 of 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder. During his trial, he told the panel of 13 officers that he was targeting soldiers who would deploy to Afghanistan and ‘were going to engage in an illegal war.'” (10/08/26)
- Crew-12 astronauts return to Earth after nearly eight months in space
Source: Space.com
“The four astronauts of SpaceX’s Crew-12 mission returned to Earth this morning (Oct. 8) after nearly eight months in space. Crew-12’s Crew Dragon capsule, named ‘Freedom,’ undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday morning (Oct. 7) at 8:05 a.m. EDT (1205 GMT), beginning a roughly 27-hour trip back to its home planet. Everything went well during the journey: Freedom splashed down as planned in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles today at 11:34 a.m. EDT (1534 GMT).” (10/08/26)
- Rodrigo Duterte ruled fit to stand trial at ICC
Source: United Press International
“The International Criminal Court announced Thursday that former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is fit to stand trial in The Hague, the Netherlands. Duterte is facing charges for his war on drugs during his presidency, from 2016 to 2022, in which tens of thousands of small-time drug dealers were executed. The ICC’s case includes killings from Nov. 1, 2011, when Duterte was the mayor of Davao, until March 2019, when he pulled his country from ICC membership. On Sept. 16, he appeared at the ICC for a status hearing to verify his health. Duterte’s lawyers have said his health is fading and he would be unfit. The trial is set to begin Nov. 30.” (10/08/26)
- Trump bought up to $25 million in Meta and millions in SpaceX debt in August
Source: CNBC
“President Donald Trump disclosed more than 500 securities transactions in August, including a purchase of up to $25 million in Meta stock and an investment of as much as $5 million in SpaceX debt two days before he signed a sweeping policy aimed at expanding U.S. commercial space transportation, according to a newly released financial disclosure. The 517 purchases and sales totaled roughly $74.3 million to $273.3 million, according to a CNBC analysis of Trump’s August financial disclosure, which reports each item in a range of value. Purchases accounted for at least $44.2 million and sales at least $30.1 million, CNBC calculated. The 18-page filing shows Trump’s portfolio remained highly active, even as trading slowed from June and July, when he disclosed more than 1,000 transactions in each month.” (10/08/26)
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/08/trump-august-trades-meta-spacex-financial-disclosure.html
- South Korea: Regime test-flies its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon
Source: ABC News
“South Korea flight-tested on Thursday its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon, designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defense systems, bringing Seoul closer to what it says could be game-changing weapons capabilities. There was no immediate response from North Korea, which last week tested its own hypersonic missile that landed in the waters near Japan. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the test, saying it’s a major step in strengthening the country’s conventional defense capabilities, according to a statement. It did not elaborate where the test took place.” (10/08/26)
- The Collective Is the Enemy of Community
Source: American Greatness
by Thaddeus G McCotter“Whether reflecting on the impersonal essence of ‘virtual reality’ and the incessant stream of demands and anxieties it imposes upon our diurnal, increasingly alienated existence, or listening to the concerns of one’s fellow citizens, one hears a persistent leitmotif: the longing for true community, especially among the youth. One aspect of this longing has been well bruited: people’s gnawing sense that the myth of ‘virtual community’ is an alienating illusion that increasingly leaves them numb and pining for personal engagements—the flesh-and-blood amities, intimacies, and sundry other encounters of true community. Exacerbating this sense of loss, especially among the young, people are very concerned about ‘affordability’ (such as the inability to purchase a new home, rent an apartment, find an entry-level job, or keep the one they already have) due to the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and inflation.” (10/10/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/10/10/the-collective-is-the-enemy-of-community/
- “Socialism to Me”: Definition by Wishful Thinking
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Joshua Mawhorter“The masterful socialist strategy is to present only the benefits of their policies with no (or almost no) costs, and then assert that the consequences of state intervention are actually the costs of free-market capitalism. Ironically, however, the socialists need the genuine production and exchange from some degree of market capitalism in order to give anything to anyone. What does not exist or is not possessed cannot be given.” (10/09/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/socialism-me-definition-wishful-thinking
- The Floundering Anglo-American Right
Source: The Weekly Dish
by Andrew Sullivan“For the ancients, thymos always had to cede to reason to be exercised properly, and always, as for every virtue, in moderation. The consequences of unrestrained thymos could be disastrous, as Socrates taught, and Alcibiades, who rashly got Athens into a war it could not win, proved. So no, the West is not defined by ambition, nor by ‘the unapologetic pursuit of national power.’ For most of the last two thousand years, after all, ‘national power’ did not exist. Christendom did. The West is defined by reason allied with Christianity, which eventually gave us the liberal order. Rubio wants to replace that with unconstrained passion allied with the will to power. God help us. But that just reveals how virulently anti-Christian the American right has now become.” (10/09/26)
https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-floundering-anglo-american-right
- How Italy Lost the 21st Century
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Marta Roels“At the turn of the century, Italy was a G7 industrial power, admired for its fashion, automobiles, machinery, food, and design. Since then, a rigid labor market, complex taxation, slow courts, small family firms, heavy public debt, demographic decline, and the constraints of the euro have combined to undermine growth. Italy has not dramatically collapsed; it has lost time. Between 2000 and 2022, Italian labor productivity fell by roughly 4%, while the EU average rose around 20%.” (10/09/26)
- Fukuyama’s Glasses
Source: Liberal Currents
by Katherine Alejandra Cross“Like the man himself, Francis Fukuyama’s new memoir ‘In the Realm of the Last Man’ combines startling insight and baffling contradiction.” (10/09/26)
- A Former Right-Winger’s Guide on How to Defeat Her Old Side
Source: The UnPopulist
by Paul Crider“I think of Sarah Longwell as a kind of political sin-eater. The founder and publisher of The Bulwark sprinkles quotes like the above throughout her new book, a New York Times bestseller, How to Eat an Elephant: One Voter at a Time. They are a small sampling of her regular focus groups of American voters. She listens to the most infuriating inanities from the world’s most irresponsible voters because the rest of us would be driven to madness from the Lovecraftian horror that is American public opinion. Longwell uses her vast trove of qualitative voter data and her long experience in Republican communications to end the electoral dominance of her former side and enact reforms long and deep enough to decisively resolve the authoritarian crisis.” (10/09/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/a-former-right-wingers-guide-on-how
- As Lists of Companies Complicit in Its Crimes Grow, Will Israel Finally Pay a Price?
Source: Common Dreams
by Ramzy Baroud“Let’s start with the good news. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has added 61 companies to its database of businesses involved in activities linked to illegal Israeli settlements, expanding the list from 158 to 214 companies. Why is this good news? Because it further illustrates a degree of seriousness within the international community to move its position on Israel from the realm of language to that of action. Yet more good news: Five previously listed companies were removed after the office determined that their involvement in the relevant activities had ended. For the Israeli mindset to change, the consequences of occupation, annexation, and genocide must become unmistakable. This matters because it suggests that the mechanism can work: Sustained scrutiny can influence corporate behavior, and supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine can carry a price.” (10/10/26)
- Deep State of the World
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Meryl Nass“Councils of Government (COGs) and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) are a form of non-democratic authority that are taking over functions from duly elected state and local governments, funded by grants from state and federal governments. This project has been expanding in power and funding since the 1960s. It involves creating new organizations with appointed members for which there is no direct citizen oversight.” (10/09/26)
- Why Didn’t 2008 Bank Bailouts Produce COVID-Level Inflation?
Source: The Daily Economy
by Paul Mueller“Washington responded to two crises with extraordinary monetary and fiscal interventions. Why did COVID-era stimulus produce soaring inflation when the response to the 2008 financial crisis did not?” (10/09/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/why-didnt-bank-bailouts-produce-covid-level-inflation/
- Hasta la Vista, Baby
Source: Independent Institute
by Daniel Sánchez-Piñol“This November, voters will decide on the California Billionaire Tax Act (Prop 40), which would retroactively impose a 5 percent tax on the wealth of residents worth more than $1 billion. Its supporters say it could raise $100 billion, even though several billionaires have already left the state or plan to. Beginning in 2020 and intensifying in 2021, a tidal wave of entrepreneurs and businesses left California, including tech billionaires Elon Musk and Larry Ellison. It’s not hard to see why: the state’s high taxes, heavy regulations, and increasingly contentious political climate have made it clear that success is not welcome.” (10/09/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/09/hasta-la-vista-baby/
- How Vance and Thiel Get the Antichrist Backwards
Source: The Bulwark
by Matthew D Taylor“One is doing a bit of cynical pandering, the other is condemning anyone opposed to the tech future—and neither is willing to look in the mirror.” (10/09/26)
- The Spy Chief Who Was Caught by Accident
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat“In February 2003, the intelligence that August Hanning’s service had handed to Washington turned up in Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations Security Council, in the case for invading Iraq. On the morning of 6 October 2026, masked officers walked Hanning, now eighty, out of his house near Münster in handcuffs, on suspicion of attempted treason and espionage. The secrets that undid him had been sitting on a hard drive in that house, and some of them had been shared with Berlin by its allies. The United States is the first of those allies.” (10/09/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/thomas_karat/2026/10/08/the-spy-chief-who-was-caught-by-accident
- “Donroe Doctrine” and conservative victories squeeze cartels in Latin America
Source: Fox News
by Chuck DeVore“The cartels are losing political cover, and they know it. The Trump administration has treated the Western Hemisphere as a security problem rather than allow diplomatic courtesy to block needed action. Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro is in U.S. custody. Colombia elected Abelardo de la Espriella, who ran opposed to negotiations with armed groups and won. Argentina, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and others have aligned with Washington’s enforcement policies. The Shield of the Americas coalition now coordinates intelligence and operations against cartel networks, but with a handful of exceptions: Mexico, Brazil, Cuba and Nicaragua. That is the Donroe Doctrine in practice: American predominance in the hemisphere, applied to migration, Chinese footholds and the drug trade. Critically, this is a major shift in the operating environments for the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG (Jalisco New Generation Cartel) and the Colombian and Venezuelan networks that fed them.” (10/10/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/donroe-doctrine-conservative-victories-squeeze-cartels-latin-america
- When will Mamdani care about victims of crimes the same way he does about illegal [sic] migrants?
Source: New York Post
by Kirsten Fleming“An alleged gangbanger in this country illegally [sic] was shot and wounded by ICE [gangbangers] in The Bronx on Thursday. And by the way New York politicians immediately reacted (with press conferences and outraged tweets the length of ‘War and Peace’) one would think ICE had made swiss cheese of a sweet grandma as she handed out Werther’s Originals to the neighborhood children. All the usual suspects reflexively grabbed a microphone and called to ‘abolish ICE’ in the name of Oscar Belgal, who reportedly used his car to smash through a vehicle barricade before accelerating toward ICE [gangbangers]. Belgal’s 5-year-old son was in the car and was unharmed, no thanks to his pathetic excuse of a father. Still, an outraged Mayor Mamdani stood alongside AG Tish James and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams declaring war on ICE.” (10/09/26)
- US leaves Iraq: ‘Shock and awe’ curdles into ‘Aw, shucks’
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Mark Thompson“The U.S. ends its military campaign in Baghdad after 23 years of fighting. The campaign cost 4,418 US troops their lives and will end up costing nearly $3 trillion through 2050.” (10/09/’26)
- A Brief Guide to Trump’s Vote Buying Schemes
Source: CounterPunch
by Peter Hart“As the midterm elections approach, it’s safe to say that things don’t look great for Donald Trump’s Republican Congressional majority. He has responded by the usual threats and bluster, but also by promising to send voters money. Now, it should be said that politicians make promises all the time – to voters in general or to more specific constituents. This is part of the process. But sending out quick payments to voters right before an election, and promising a big payday if voters deliver his party a victory, are highly unusual moves.” (10/09/26)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/10/09/a-brief-guide-to-trumps-vote-buying-schemes/
- Evangelizing a Post-Literate Society
Source: Law & Liberty
by Nadya Williams[W]hy exactly is it so bad that screens have destroyed so many people’s ability to focus and read since 1980, and even more dramatically since 2007? What do we lose if people no longer read like it’s the 1770s? Quite a bit, [James] Marriott contends. One significant concern for him is the damage to politics that he blames on the decline of reading: ‘Perhaps the most worrying victim of the Great Simplification is our public discourse. It seems that our distracted and trivial culture increasingly struggles to sustain a rational debate on almost any issue.’ In other words, reading trains our brains to engage with ideas in earnest and to use our attention spans to listen to elaborate arguments and process them afterwards. But those who do not have these skills are unable to engage with serious arguments in the public sphere.” (10/09/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/evangelizing-a-post-literate-society/
- America Mobilizing to Protect Midterms
Source: The American Prospect
by Whitney Curry Wimbish“Thousands of people are preparing to protect the midterm elections and mobilize immediately if President Trump interferes with the results. They are drawing lessons from the American civil rights era and from fights against authoritarianism worldwide, attending political education classes, and reassessing exactly how much they will risk, personally, to stand between a government takeover and the will of the voters. ‘There’s a deeper, broader, bolder set of efforts afoot to prepare people for much more existential scenarios that could come our way that would call into question the pillars of our democracy itself for what it’s for and who it’s for,’ said Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. ‘People are zeroing in.’ He’s organizing with May Day Strong, which this month hosted more than 750 ‘solidarity school’ training sessions nationwide.” (10/09/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/09/america-mobilizing-to-protect-midterms-trump-election/
- Hormuz and the Looming Economic Catastrophe
Source: The American Conservative
by Philip Pilkington“Treasury bonds are not just any old asset. For one, they are the debt of the U.S. government. If they become uninvestable, the capacity for Washington to live beyond its means through debt issuance is open to question. Treasuries are also the benchmark asset for the entire global dollar system that has allowed the U.S. to run enormous deficits for decades. If this asset starts ‘trading like a meme stock’ and generating awful returns, foreigners will opt for something else. … The Trump administration has become fixated on the Strait of Hormuz, seeing it as a decisive battlefield on which the U.S. can win the war. But the Strait is merely a means to an end. For Iran, that end is to slowly demolish the American economy and financial system until the pressure becomes too much and the U.S. backs off.” (10/09/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/hormuz-and-the-looming-economic-catastrophe/
- Economic Blockades: Protectionism As Punishment
Source: The Daily Economy
by Caleb S Fuller & Scott Burns“Trump’s ‘Economic D-Day’ against Iran bears an uncanny resemblance to his ‘Liberation Day’ strategy for America. Both rely on the same basic mechanism: restricting trade. Yet Trump assures us they will produce opposite results. For Americans, trade restrictions will bring economic revival; for Iran, they will bring economic ruin. You don’t need a PhD in economics — or any degree at all — to spot the contradiction. The renowned American economist Henry George — a middle school dropout who taught himself economics — exposed the paradox of protectionism in 1886: ‘What protection teaches us is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.'” (10/08/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/economic-blockades-protectionism-as-punishment/
- Bring US Forces Home — From Around the World
Source: The American Conservative
by Doug Bandow“No doubt, the military must be vigilant in protecting personnel and equipment from threats, especially those assessed as significant and imminent. Yet who imagined that the Pentagon would believe itself unable to protect aircraft based in the UK from Iran? What if America was battling Russia—would the administration also withdraw its bombers from the UK? Withdraw all planes from all Europe? Empty its bases in Asia and the Middle East as well? … The president, as well as other leading policymakers in Washington, should treat the threat to America’s overextended military as an opportunity. Time is long past for retrenchment, winding down a global presence that no longer serves serious, let alone vital, American interests.” (10/08/26)
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/bring-u-s-forces-home-from-around-the-world/
- Trump’s Steel Policy Is Working. That’s the Problem
Source: Bloomberg
by Scott Lincicome“With great fanfare, President Donald Trump announced last week that ‘the largest steel plant ever built in the United States’ would be coming to Lee County, Iowa, adding that Mesabi Metallics’[s] $15 billion investment in a pivotal midterm swing state proved his ‘powerful 50% tariffs’ were working. He’s right: The announcement is a tangible result of American steel policy — but, contrary to what the president said, that’s not a good thing. Start with the project’s real price tag. Thanks to tariffs and other trade restrictions, US steel prices are among the highest in the world …. Because steel-consuming industries greatly outnumber steelmakers in the US, studies have repeatedly shown that steel tariffs, whether imposed by Trump in 2018 or George W. Bush in 2002, caused a net reduction in US manufacturing output and employment — effects that, in the latter case, persisted for years after the levies were lifted.” (10/08/26)
- Congress can reclaim its spending and war powers by revising two policies
Source: The Hill
by Maya Kornberg“In one of his latest examples of executive overreach, President Trump cancelled $810 million in congressionally authorized spending, yet again undermining Congress’s power of the purse. From funding freezes to illegal wars, Trump has repeatedly tried to seize Congress’s constitutional powers throughout this term. The Government Accountability Office pushed back on the recent cancellation. And there are finally signs that Congress is starting to get fed up. Lawmakers from both parties are reportedly discussing how to adjust future spending bills to make sure this doesn’t happen again. But Congress must go much further in clawing its power back. Lawmakers must learn from congressional history and reassert their authority to check executive abuse, particularly on the power of the purse and war-making.” (10/08/26)
- Israeli Carnage in Lebanon Is Part Of a Pattern
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard“Since March, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have displaced more than a million civilians and killed or wounded more than 17,000 people. Al Jazeera reported last month that ‘Israeli artillery shelling is still causing uncontrollable fires. Lebanese civil defense and firefighters are not being allowed by the Israelis to reach these areas and put out the flames. More than 60 towns in southern Lebanon are still occupied by the Israeli army, where the Israelis are carrying out a systematic campaign of demolitions.’ The war in Iran and the continued carnage in Gaza have squeezed out American media coverage of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon and Beirut. But Israel is repeating the same strategy and the storyline that it has used to justify attacking Lebanon since the dawn of the Reagan era.” (10/08/26)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2026/10/08/israeli-carnage-in-lebanon-is-part-of-a-pattern/
- It’s not “victim blaming” to ask how women can better protect themselves from sexual assault
Source: New York Post
by Rikki Schlott“An alleged gang rape at Cornell University has set the internet ablaze with debate. But whenever anyone asks what the victim did to find themselves in that situation, they’re chastised. Yet these are exactly the kinds of conversations we need to be having to protect other women from similar fates. Pointing out a woman’s missteps does not mean one believes she deserves what happened to her. It helps stop the same thing from happening again.” (10/08/26)
- Price Controls Don’t Work. So Why Do So Many Democrats and Republicans Love Them?
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“Prices are the manifestations of countless decisions by buyers and sellers, each acting on individual knowledge no one else has. No buyer’s budget and needs, and no seller’s costs and offerings, are identical. Only a free market can account for this and decide whether a price sticks. Creating laws to cap prices doesn’t make scarcity go away. It just shows up as empty shelves instead of a market-determined price.” (10/08/26)
- How to Stop the Feds: James Madison’s Forgotten Blueprint
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin“Going to the federal government to convince the federal government to limit its own power? That’s not just bad strategy and a lost cause. It’s dangerous to the Constitution and liberty. James Madison gave us the answer – a blueprint for beating the feds without relying on the feds to magically do what they never do – limit their own power. All backed up by the ultimate safeguard for freedom: a highly armed and highly trained general population ready to protect their own constitution and their own liberty against all enemies, foreign or domestic.” (10/08/26)
https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2026/10/08/how-to-stop-the-feds-james-madisons-forgotten-blueprint/
- Libertarian Party Sues Former Chair McArdle
Source: The Porter Files
by Jake Porter“On October 1, the Libertarian National Committee filed a 25 page lawsuit against its former Chair Angela McArdle and her domestic partner, Austin Padgett, seeking monetary relief between $250,000 and $1,000,000. … A legal petition is of course allegations and not a not a conviction or a legal finding. McArdle and Padgett haven’t answered yet. Watch for a motion to dismiss, then the process of discovery where the LNC likely attempts to get access to bank statements.” (10/08/26)
https://jakeporter.substack.com/p/libertarian-party-sues-former-chair
- The Technicolor cave of liberalism
Source: hypertext
by Laura K Field“If you pay attention to the MAGA New Right, you will notice a pattern whereby their premier thinkers often wax allegorical about the liberal order in terms that echo Plato’s image of the cave. The names they confer upon liberal democracy are varied and motley: We hear of the ‘administrative state’ and the ‘managerial elite,’ the Cathedral, Longhouse, Gynocracy, and Davoisie. Postliberals like Patrick Deneen and Adrian Vermeule speak of ‘Liberalocracy’ and ‘Sacramental Liberalism’; others of the ‘Negative World’ or simply the ‘Regime.’ But from these various right-wing factions, you will hear a chorus of red-pilled agreement: The liberal-democratic way of life is emasculating and unholy, hypocritical, socially corrosive, and unstable. Perhaps above all else, it is dishonest: ‘They are lying hypocrites!’ the chorus exclaims. Into this counter-revolutionary fray waltzes the political theorist Alexandre Lefebvre, with his wonderfully unconventional book, Liberalism as a Way of Life.” (10/08/26)
https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-technicolor-cave-of-liberalism
- It Took A Live-Streamed Genocide To Punch Through The Wall Of Western Apathy
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“I never asked to know what a dismembered child looks like. Israel imposed that knowledge upon me. I never wanted to know what it looks like when military explosives blow an infant’s head off. I only know it because Israel forced me to know it. The reason the Gaza holocaust hit westerners so hard is because it punched through the wall of our shitbrained western supremacist narcissism and our vapid mainstream culture and shook us violently awake to something real and terrifying. All of a sudden the idea that our bombs are killing people in the middle east was no longer a vague abstraction sitting in the periphery of our awareness.” (10/08/26)
- Liberty Suicide
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“Modern-day Americans have engaged in what might be called ‘liberty suicide,’ an act by which they have willingly killed their own freedom through their support of various liberty-destroying governmental programs. The biggest example of this liberty suicide was the conversion of the federal government from a limited-government republic to a national-security state.” (10/08/26)
- Republicans Are Fighting Again. Let’s Enjoy the Show.
Source: American Greatness
by Spyridon Andrews“There are plenty of reasons for Republican voters to be pissed off about the upcoming election. The Iran War, the economic consequences of another Middle Eastern adventure, the unfinished DOGE business, the Epstein debacle, and the seemingly endless supply of Republican congressmen who arrive in Washington promising to clean up the swamp and immediately begin looking for waterfront property. Then there are the allegations of congressional misconduct and taxpayer-funded settlements, which ought to make everybody furious regardless of party. It’s quite a spectacle, and we haven’t even gotten to the Democrats yet. … There are, however, a few things we have to keep in mind. First of all, the split within the Republican Party is nothing new.” (10/08/26)
https://amgreatness.com/2026/10/08/republicans-are-fighting-again-lets-enjoy-the-show/
- Before Regulating AI, Try the Laws We Already Have
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by John Chisholm“[W]e don’t have to anticipate every AI harm. AI is already regulated. Generally applicable law regulates conduct and harm, not the technology used to produce them. There is no AI exemption. Fraud is fraud, with or without AI. Negligence law applies to both AI developers and deployers. In 2024, for example, a British Columbia tribunal held Air Canada negligent over a refund policy its chatbot invented, rejecting the airline’s argument that the chatbot was responsible for its own words. Courts are also weighing product-liability claims—design defect, failure to warn—against AI makers. … These bodies of law hold those responsible liable for harms, which gives developers strong reason to prevent them.” (10/08/26)
https://fee.org/articles/before-regulating-ai-try-the-laws-we-already-have/
- Too Many in US Working Class Have No Political Home
Source: Common Dreams
by Les Leopold“To free the working class from MAGA’s Trumpian grasp, is a new political organization needed to topple the corporate interests that dominate both major political parties?” (10/08/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/working-class-independent-association
- The “Warp Speed” That Worked Best
Source: Independent Institute
by Raymond J March“The World Health Organization declared an end to the COVID-19 public-health emergency more than three years ago. Its deaths, infections, hospitalizations, and other damage still leave us with a litany of questions about what could have been done better, sooner, or differently. It’s a long list: mask mandates, lockdowns, school closures, stay-at-home orders, curfews, delayed surgeries, etc. Operation Warp Speed, the public-and-private partnership with billions of dollars to bring us a COVID-19 vaccine quickly, never seems to be on it. Rather, the partnership remains hailed as ‘a triumph of public health policy,’ ‘miraculous,’ and ‘a new model for industrial policy.’ … For all the accomplishments of Operation Warp Speed, it was not the first of its kind. In fact, it has an overlooked and largely forgotten predecessor that didn’t require any government partnership at all.” (10/08/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/10/08/original-operation-warp-speed/
- The Dispatch Podcast, 10/09/26
Source: The Dispatch
“What Midterm Polling May Be Getting Wrong.” (10/09/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/dispatch-podcast/what-midterm-polling-may-be-getting-wrong/
- Soho Forum Debate: Will Mamdani Make Housing More Affordable?
Source: Reason
“Economist Emily Eisner and former New York State Assemblyman Kenny Burgos debate the resolution, ‘Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s housing policies will make housing more affordable for most New York City residents.'” (10/09/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/09/will-mamdani-make-housing-more-affordable/
- Minor Issues, 10/10/26
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Violent Populism.” (10/10/26)
- The Moynihan Report, 10/09/26
Source: The Moynihan Report
“The Confidence Man: Alex Gibney Vs. Elon Musk.” (10/09/26)
https://www.themoynihan.report/p/the-confidence-man-alex-gibney-vs
- Reasonably Optimistic, 10/09/26
Source: Washington Post
“The overlooked businesses making Americans rich.” (10/09/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/the-overlooked-businesses-making-americans-rich/
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 690
Source: Freakonomics
“It’s Show Business, Baby!” (10/09/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 10/09/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump Rage at Fox Backfires as Aides Leak Humiliating Motive Behind It.” (10/09/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/216438/trump-rage-fox-backfires-aides-leak-humiliating-motive-behind
- Fountainhead Forum, episode 499
Source: Fountainhead Forum
“Brad Sandefur on running for Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois.” (10/09/26)
https://rumble.com/v7gll0o-ff-499-brad-sandefur-on-running-for-sheriff-of-cook-county-illinois.html
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 10/09/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“A Menu of Housing Reforms with Salim Furth.” (10/09/26)
https://showmeinstitute.org/article/economy/a-menu-of-housing-reforms-with-salim-furth/
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 601
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley discuss televised public executions, libertarian reputation ratings, and this HEADLINE: North Carolina Woman Doesn’t Have First Amendment Right to Publish Video of Cop Shooting Her Dogs, Court Rules.” (10/09/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/10/09/the-anarchist-experience-601/
- The Political Orphanage, 10/08/26
Source: The Political Orphanage
“Europe is Freeloading on American Healthcare.” (10/08/26)
https://politicalorphanage.libsyn.com/europe-is-freeloading-on-american-healthcare
- Anarcho Agenda, episode 151
Source: Anarcho Agenda
“Dallin Oaks calls it the common good, I call it a limit on you.” (10/08/26)
- Underthrow Podcast, 10/08/26
- Nonzero, 10/08/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Inside Elon’s Mind | Robert Wright & Alex Gibney.” (10/08/26)
- Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 10/08/26
Source: Freedom’s Phoenix
“Patrick Wood (Editor-In-Chief of Technocracy.News; Author of Technocracy Rising; Trilaterals over Washington) on his new book, Crucible of Tokens: Tokenization, Stablecoins, and the New Architecture of Global Banking.” (10/08/26)
- Politics Politics Politics, 10/08/26
Source: Politics Politics Politics
“Are These Senate Races Widening or Tightening? The Most Expensive Midterms Ever (with Dave Levinthal).” (10/08/26)
https://www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/p/are-these-senate-races-widening-or
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/08/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says He Won’t Bomb Iran Before Midterms, Ansar Allah Pounds Saudi Airports, and More.” (10/08/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 10/08/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Out With A Bang? Trump May Attack Iran BEFORE Midterms!” (10/08/26)
- Libertarian Angle, 10/08/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“The Horrors and Fallacies of Socialism.” (10/08/26)
- Rising, 10/08/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on a survey showing that nearly 90% of American senior citizens support higher taxes on younger workers to protect social security benefits.” (10/08/26)